Online conversion and bringing travel shoppers back into the fold

We’ve all had the experience of navigating our way through an online purchase, only to stop short of making the purchase.

Any number of issues may have prevented us from consummating the deal – the price, site usability issues, annoyance with having to register or log-in, pre-purchase buyer’s remorse, the need for a more direct or personal buying experience, external interruptions, or maybe we were just window shopping.

In any case, shopping cart abandonment is on the rise, according to new research from Business Intelligence, which says $4 trillion (with a T!) worth of merchandise will be abandoned in online shopping carts this year.

There are a variety of factors leading to the increase in shopping cart abandonment (by some reports, rising from 69% of all online carts being abandoned in 2011 to 74% in 2013). These include the proliferation of mobile and multi-screen shoppers, whereby users have easy access to a site but may not prefer to actually buy through their smartphone or tablet (only 34% of smartphone users say they used their phone to complete a purchase, according to Digitas).